[SIGCIS-Members] the nature of computational error

[Chuck House]

Matthew, the ‘famous’ error before the Pentium bug was the “Inverse Log of 2.02” error in the original HP35 handheld calculator.    We wound up replacing a lot of firmware as a result.

 

The bug is described well down in this article http://www.hpcc.org/calculators/wmjarts.html 

 

For my talk at the ACM History of Personal Computing January 1986, here is the video https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102695114 

In it at minute 51:00, Tom Osborne, the key creator of HP’s 9100 and HP 35 describes the issue surrounding this “Inverse log of 2.02” error.   This is the only description I’ve ever heard

 

Chuck House 

www.innovascapesinstitute.com 

www.anywhereanytime.io/covid19 

 

 

http://innovascapes.blogspot.com

805-570-6706

 

 

 

From: Members <members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of Matthew Kirschenbaum <mkirschenbaum at gmail.com>
Date: Friday, July 3, 2020 at 10:55 AM
To: members <members at sigcis.org>
Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] the nature of computational error

 

Hello all,

 

I am interested in a better understanding of the nature of computational error. My sense is that actual, literal (mathematical) mistakes in modern computers are quite rare; the notorious Pentium bug of the early 1990s is the exception that proves the rule. Most bugs are, rather, code proceeding to a perfectly correct logical outcome that just so happens to be inimical or intractable to the user and/or other dependent elements of the system. The Y2K "bug," for instance, was actually code executing in ways that were entirely internally self-consistent, however much havoc the code would wreak (or was expected to wreak).

 

Can anyone recommend reading that will help me formulate such thoughts with greater confidence and accuracy? Or serve as a corrective? I'd like to read something fundamental and even philosophical about, as my subject line has it, the nature of computational error. I'd also be interested in collecting other instances comparable to the Pentium bug--bugs that were actual flaws and mistakes hardwired at the deepest levels of a system.

 

Thank you-- Matt

 


-- 

Matthew Kirschenbaum
Professor of English and Digital Studies
Director, Graduate Certificate in Digital Studies
Printer's Devil, BookLab
University of Maryland

mgk at umd.edu

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